Sophie Howarth, Gill Perry and Claire Bishop, Discussion 2

Robert Morris, Mike Nelson and Martin Fried, Installation Art and the Post-Medium Condition  Claire Bishop argues that installation art is exemplary of 'post-medium specific art', in other words, art whose medium is so expanded that it no longer has much to do with traditional art historical genres such as sculpture and painting.

Sophie Howarth, Ian White and Claire Bishop, Discussion 2  The speakers consider how changing Utopian ideologies have motivated artists, architects, designers and filmmakers in Europe and America over the last hundred years. The topics covered include the pioneering first wave of abstract art in the early twentieth century, visions of Utopia in avant-garde film, and post-modern explorations of the concept of Utopia by contemporary artists

Claire Bishop, Cinema, Utopias and Microtopias  Claire's talk addresses the idea of Utopia as it has been played out in contemporary art since the 1990s, focusing in particular on the notion of the work of art as a 'microtopia'. She makes reference to two contemporary artists: Rirkrit Tiravanija and Thomas Hirschhorn. Further Reading Relational Aesthetics, Nicolas Bourriaud, Paris: Presses du Réel, 1998. Thomas Hirschhorn, Carlos Basualdo, Alison Gingeras et al, London: Phaidon, 2004. Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics, Claire Bishop, October no.110, 2004.